If your ears are ringing you've damaged them to some extent. If you can hear it the next day it's worse. If it's still going after a week it's probably permanent but sometimes eases up within 3 months. Still there after 3 months get used to it.

Get yourself some earplugs now - don't do what most of us did and wait for permanent ringing first. I got away with it many many times but eventually it'll take hold if you don't take care.

Wot they all said. With luck it'll go away today. If it doesn't you're probably stuck with it. I was told it's agravated by caffeine, red wine, tonic, citrus fruit. I've cut out the caffeine but would prefer not to live a life without fruit or wine.

On the plus side I'm lucky enough to associate it with the pleasant feeling of being dead tired. It doesn't annoy me, it just gets in the way of hearing stuff.

Ebay for a big pile of different earplugs - find one you like. My favourite are MAX LITE SNR34 in flouro green.

I doubt you've done any damage with one night out, it'll pass eventually.

Most tinnitus is not caused by external loud noise, mine for example is caused by pressure in my inner ear. People who play in bands or DJs, basically anyone who is exposed to loud noise very regularly, will sometimes develop tinnitus. But for most people who go to a loud nightclub every now and then, the most you'll get is a bit of ringing for a day or two.

"eeeeeeeeee..." that pretty much sums up the rest of your life (that'll be the ringing not the drugs). Mine's become a permanant fixture in the last year or so, but in the last couple of weeks I occasionally get two different notes that switch. Wierd as it happens for no reason, but if it carries on It'll be producing it's own tunes at this rate.

I didn't say loud noise doesn't cause tinnitus...but often there is another cause.

I'm just repeating what my ENT consultant has told me, and from my own research into my tinnitus.

But in the interest of pedantry, noise in your ear of any nature, for any period, where there is no external source, is tinnitus.

But permanent tinnitus from going to a gig or night club doesn't happen that often...unless you were right next to the speakers for an extended period, and the music was very, very loud. Exposure to sudden very loud noise, or loud noise over an extended period can cause tinnitus.

Many people have tinnitus in one form or another, at at sometime during their lives. For the majority it goes away, for others it's permanent. For sufferers who have mild tinnitus, their brain can often learn to filter it out.

must have been a loud one if they're still ringing the day after. I can't remember the last gig I went to, or played, that left me with ringing in the ears. But I guess it's not as loud onstage is it is out front.

Having said that, I read somewhere that the noise level from a snare drum, at the distance that a drummer's head is from the drum, is enough to cause hearing loss after 90 seconds - but I suppose that's 90 seconds of continuous noise at that level, not the very sharp attack & decay that lasts a fraction of a second for every stroke

My mother has had tinnitus for years now. A couple of years ago we went up l'Aiguille du Midi cablecar in Chamonix (3800m) and she noticed an instant improvement.. This improvement stayed after the descent to the village and even to this day as far as I'm aware...

If it's caused by inner ear pressure then this anecdotal story may actually be backed up by fact..

People who play in bands or DJs, basically anyone who is exposed to loud noise very regularly, will sometimes develop tinnitus. But for most people who go to a loud nightclub every now and then, the most you'll get is a bit of ringing for a day or two.

But permanent tinnitus from going to a gig or night club doesn't happen that often...unless you were right next to the speakers for an extended period, and the music was very, very loud. Exposure to sudden very loud noise, or loud noise over an extended period can cause tinnitus.

had it in the left ear for just over a year - don't know the cause but could have been concerts / clubbing / MP3 use so now wear Etymotic ER20 High Fidelity Ear Plugs at concerts and they reduce the volume but you can still hear everything clearly.